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1. Introduction
In the past two decades, lack of physical activity (PA) has become one of the major public health problems in the world [1]. A wealth of evidence has accumulated showing that regular PA reduces all-cause mortality and the incidence of cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes and cancer, and enhances bone strength and psychological health [2].
The prevalence of insufficient PA in European school-going children is very high and ranges between 80 and 90% [1]. PA declines steadily during childhood, with the steepest drop being observed at the time of transition between primary and secondary school [3]. Consequently, the prevalence of physical inactivity is higher in secondary-school students compared to primary school students [4].
Correlates of PA are many [5], and recent studies have shown that the type of school can also influence adolescents’ PA [6,7,8,9,10]. It has been reported that students attending vocational schools are less physically active [6], spend more time in front of television and computer [7], and participate in sport less often [8,9] compared to their peers from grammar schools. Another potential factor influencing PA related to the type of school is socio-economic status (SES) [11]. Specifically, parents with lower educational level often have barriers to meeting the material costs of PA opportunities for their children [12]. Moreover, students attending grammar schools often report having higher SES, which potentially leads to higher participation in organized sports and lower prevalence of overweight [13]. Thus, it seems that both the type of school and SES contribute to PA levels in children and adolescents. Still, only a handful of studies have investigated the patterns of PA in children and adolescents according to school-type [6,7,8,9,10]. Furthermore, all these studies used subjective measures (questionnaires) to assess PA, which typically leads to overestimation of PA [14]. In order to create effective, school-oriented policies on PA, it is imperative to explore the impact of school type on children’s PA. In addition, to better understand the association of PA and school type, it is necessary to use objective methods of PA assessment that enable more accurate estimation of energy expenditure (EE).
Thus, the main aim of this study was to examine the associations of objectively assessed levels and weekly patterns of PA and the type of school in...